CM asks Jaya not to oppose HP’s Central package
Shimla, August 30
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, today urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa not to oppose the industrial package granted by the Centre to Himachal Pradesh. He asserted that such incentives and exemptions to encourage industries were required for economically backward states.

SCA demands filling of posts of lecturer
Dharamsala, August 30
The newly elected Students’ Central Association of the ABVP in Regional Centre here today demanded filling of vacant posts of lectures on regular basis in the postgraduate departments.

Drunk passengers create ruckus in bus
Kangra, August 30
A drunken passenger was slapped by a conductor for not purchasing a ticket in a Rampur-bound bus from Jammu on Sunday night.
The bus was over-crowded and some passengers who were drunk boarded the bus.

Punjabi pop to enthral tribesmen
Reckong Peo (Kinnaur), August 30
Punjabi pop music will enchant tribal natives of Kinnaur at the annual state-level tribal festival of Kinnaur being organised at its district headquarters in Reckong Peo from October 30 to November 2 this year.

Bilaspur lawyers boycott courts
Bilaspur, August 30
The District Bar Association here yesterday led by its president D.S. Kutal boycotted courts and raised slogans, demanding transfer of Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court V.K. Gupta, alleging he was “hostile” towards the Bilaspur Bar.

Panel to look into JEs’ promotion
Dharamsala, August 30
A cadre management committee under the Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Public Health Department, will be constituted to remove the delay caused in promotion of Junior Engineers.

Residents express concern over thefts
Mandi, August 30
The car thieves are active in the town under the nose of the police. A Maruti car (HP-33-4410) was stolen last night, when the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists and other youth painted the town red, howiling and shouting.

Two hurt in stabbing
Nahan, August 30
Two youths were stabbed last night at Talian Mohalla Chowk here. Both were taken to Nahan district hospital from where they referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, in a critical condition.

Two killed, 8 hurt in road accidents
Shimla, August 30
Two persons were killed and eight injured in two separate accidents in Shimla district today.
Two unidentified persons were killed and as many injured when a truck
(HR-37A-1488) carrying apple fell into a khud at Vikasnagar in New Shimla.

Body of youth
foundParwanoo, August 30The body of a Kalka youth was found on the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge rail track near Datyar between Gumma and Koti railway stations this morning.The badly mutilated body of Ajai Kumar (25) was noticed along the track by the guard crew of 251 UP train to Shimla around 7.10 am.

Shimla, August 30
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, today urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa not to oppose the industrial package granted by the Centre to Himachal Pradesh. He asserted that such incentives and exemptions to encourage industries were required for economically backward states.

Reacting to the demand of Ms Jayalalithaa for withdrawal of the package to special category states, he said it was surprising that Himachal Pradesh’s progress should be a matter of concern for a developed state like Tamil Nadu.

Being a hill state Himachal Pradesh was disadvantageously placed as compared to plains in terms of geophysical conditions, means of communications and connectivity. Cost of development was much higher and it entailed enormous men, machine and material resources for developing basic infrastructural facilities. As such, developmental needs called for special supportive incentives to bring them on a par with other developed states of the country.

The Chief Minister added that industrially developed states should be more supportive towards the genuine needs of states like Himachal Pradesh.

Dharamsala, August 30
The newly elected Students’ Central Association (SCA) of the ABVP in Regional Centre here today demanded filling of vacant posts of lectures on regular basis in the postgraduate departments.

Addressing a press conference, Anand Sharma, president of the SCA, said presently there was only one regular lecturer in all departments and this was affecting the quality of teaching on the campus.

He also raised the issue of delay in the construction of new building of the regional centre in
Khaniara. In all these months, there is no sign of a structure coming up at the new location, he said. “We also want that the Department of Laws should not be separated from the centre as traditionally it has been a part of the centre,” he said.

We will also be pressing for our demand regarding the appointment of a director on regular basis for the centre, raising daily stipend for sportspersons, regular supply of drinking water and proper furniture in the departments, he added.

He further said outsiders would not be allowed to interfere in the functioning of the college.

Raising the issue of Chander Dhar Guleri College in
Haripur, where election for the students’ body was not allowed by the college authorities, Rakesh Sharma, ABVP’s organisational in-charge, said the issue would be taken up with the district administration and they would launch an agitation in case students of the college were deprived of their democratic rights.

Pankaj
Chauhan, ABVP’s unit president and Sachin Sharma, president of the
ABVP, Dharamsala unit, said a “vijay rally” would be taken out tomorrow to celebrate the victory of the ABVP in the elections.

Kangra, August 30
A drunken passenger was slapped by a conductor for not purchasing a ticket in a Rampur-bound bus from Jammu on Sunday night.

The bus was over-crowded and some passengers who were drunk boarded the bus.

An altercation between a drunken passenger and the conductor on the purchase of a ticket resulted in the conductor slapping the passenger.

Meanwhile, another drunken passenger harassed a girl who shouted for help. The girl alighted from the bus with her mother at Shahpur.

Mr Sansar Singh, the conductor, when asked why the bus was overloaded and why drunken passengers were not forced to get down to prevent an ugly situation, replied they had no powers to act. “Once a drunken passenger teased a woman passenger in Dharamsala-Bharmour bus and I intervened and made the passenger alight at Icchi village but the next day I was placed under suspension by the HRTC authorities as he approached some people in power, he said.

Asked why the drunken passenger was not handed over to the police, he said there was no police station on the way.

Ms Veena Rao from Karnataka was travelling in the same bus along with her family from Jammu to Shimla. She said: “A girl will shout like this when she is teased beyond tolerance”.

Some passengers suggested that there should be reserved seats for women in buses.

Ms Metleesh, a pilgrim from Madhya Pradesh, said; “People in drunken condition should not be allowed to travel in buses, particularly at night and on long route buses”.

Mr K.K. Guleria, a resident of Palampur, said; I feel fortunate that I accompanied my wife in the bus as the situation did get ugly”. He said the conductor had no right to physically assault a passenger. He urged the government to come forward with a legislation banning drunk people to travel in buses.

Mr H.K. Gupta, Divisional Manager, HRTC, said there was no legal provision to act against a drunken passenger but if a passenger misbehaved with passengers, particularly women, a case could be registered.

Reckong Peo (Kinnaur), August 30
Punjabi pop music will enchant tribal natives of Kinnaur at the annual state-level tribal festival of Kinnaur being organised at its district headquarters in Reckong Peo from October 30 to November 2 this year.

A 35-member committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate to make this annual affair a success.

It is being celebrated since 1994 every year. Earlier, it was celebrated under different names like Janjatiya Utsav and Phulaich Utsav.

Dr Amandeep Garg, District Magistrate, Kinnaur, said the festival not only depicted the panorama of rich cultural heritage of this tribal district, but also provided an opportunity to local people to sell or exhibit their horticulture/agriculture produce, handicraft and artifacts.

Besides the Kinnauri cultural groups, participants from other districts and states had been invited to perform cultural programmes, symbolising national integration and brotherhood, he said.

The DM, who himself hails from Muktsar, said the district administration had extended invitations to Jasbir Jassi and Jazy Bains to perform at the tribal festival. Last year Harbhajan Mann’s musical night was a great success and attracted thousands of tribesmen from faroff rural areas of the district, claimed the DM.

Bilaspur, August 30
The District Bar Association here yesterday led by its president D.S. Kutal boycotted courts and raised slogans, demanding transfer of Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court V.K. Gupta, alleging he was “hostile” towards the Bilaspur Bar.

Earlier, an emergency meeting, which was attended by all advocates here, unanimously decided to abstain from courts and work and to stage a dharna and a demonstration outside the High Court at Shimla
tomorrow. Addressing mediapersons, senior Advocates D.S. Kutal, D.R. Sharma, Rajender Handa, A.N. Sharma, A.L. Nadda, K.K. Kaushal, Ram Saran Thakur and Kranti Kumar Upadhayaya alleged that the Chief Justice had not done justice with Bilaspur in locating the district fast track court at Ghumarwin instead of Bilaspur town.

They said all other fast-track courts in Himachal Pradesh and also other states were located at the district headquarters.

Dharamsala, August 30
A cadre management committee under the Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Public Health Department, will be constituted to remove the delay caused in promotion of Junior Engineers.

Besides, as many as 100 posts of JEs will be filled with department candidates, out of which 50 will be kept for diploma holders and the rest reserved for other categories.

This was stated by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Thakur Kaul Singh while presiding over the bi-annual conference of the Junior Engineers Association of the IPH Department at Jwalamukhi.

He said JEs serving in the department on a contract basis would be regularised soon. At the same time, he underlined the role of the department in providing water to all without fail. He said the Centre had provided Rs 500 crore to the state for the various irrigation schemes.

Earlier, Mr J.P.Dutt, vice-president of the association, presented a charter of demands of the JEs.

Mandi, August 30
The car thieves are active in the town under the nose of the police. A Maruti car (HP-33-4410) was stolen last night, when the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists and other youth painted the town red, howiling and shouting.

Residents rued that they spent sleepless night due to hooliganism.

Expressing their concern over the incidents of vehicular thefts and hooliganism in late night, the residents said the car thieves had been active in the town.

It was around 1 am, the car parked nearby my house was lifted by somebody last night, said Mr Sanjiv Kapur, who runs a restaurant in the town. “I have lodged an FIR with the police,” he said.

Another resident, Mr Yadav said his scooter was parked along the roadside was lifted three days ago, but it remained untraced till today.

Nahan, August 30
Two youths were stabbed last night at Talian Mohalla Chowk here. Both were taken to Nahan district hospital from where they referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, in a critical condition.

As per police sources, the incident took place at about 10.20 p.m. when three youth, Pankaj, Baru and Sanju reportedly attacked Apurva, a resident of Jalapari village and aniket, a resident of Gunnu Ghat at the chowk. They were busy in gossip with their friend, Sandeep Kumar, a resident of Jalapari village.

As per report, Apurva and Aniket first were thrashed by the attackers, when they tried to save Sandeep, who was being beaten up by the attackers. Suddenly, Apurva and Aniket were stabbed by Sanju and Pankaj. After stabbing, attacker fled.

Both were rushed to Nahan in district hospital in a serious condition from where both were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.

The police has registered a case and police parties have been sent to nab the accused.

Parwanoo, August 30
The body of a Kalka youth was found on the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge rail track near Datyar between Gumma and Koti railway stations this morning.

The badly mutilated body of Ajai Kumar (25) was noticed along the track by the guard crew of 251 UP train to Shimla around 7.10 am. The crew informed the matter at the Koti railway station. The general railway police has started
investigations.

Ajai was a fitter in the Samtel company here. The post-mortem of
the body was conducted at the local ESI Hospital. It was handed over
to Ajai’s family later.